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Are custom made trackables OK?


CWagoner

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Is it OK to leave a custom trackable that you have made? I see others have made wooden coins and some other things, I happen to be able to make customized cards for myself and made these:

 

Front

 

DSCF1496-1.jpg

 

Back..

DSCF1495-1.jpg

 

Are these kinds of things OK or are these frowned on?? I also have some other things to leave along with these.. But want to check before I insult someone. OH and I know I spelled Geocaching wrong..hey its a first attempt.. :laughing:

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I've seen trackables similar to what you propose. One example was a toy animal with a number and a tag which gave a web address. The website was operated by the cacher/s that circulated the toy. I logged the movement of the toy.

 

I see no problem with your cards. It's for your enjoyment. Have at it.

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In the very first Geocache I found (under another account name in Dec 2001) - there was a homemade trackable spider thingy. I emailed the owner where I found it.Cool I thought!

 

Having said that - do not expect very many people to let you know where it is or anything as it will not be automated with the site.

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It's ok to make your own, but you are far more likely to get good activity if you use the existing system. You can always buy a couple of TB tags and use those numbers on your cards, but you might need to get permission to scan the TB image onto them.

 

I remember finding a red monkey or two a while back that also played on an alternate tracking site. But that was a long time ago. I haven't seen any recently.

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I'm not sure how you're planning to make this item trackable? It looks fine as a sig item.

 

I'd also suggest that you read the Logo Usage guidelines. Link is at the bottom of every page of Geocaching.com

 

The Groundspeak Geocaching Logo may be used only on non-commercial items. These items may include, but are not limited to shirts, hats, coins, logbooks, stickers and cache containers. Additionally, the Groundspeak Geocaching logo may not be modified in any way. If the lifetime use of the design is less than 25 units, you may consider permission automatically granted. These items may not, under any circumstance, be sold. For larger numbers of items, please request permission by sending an email to logo@Groundspeak.com.
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I'm not sure how you're planning to make this item trackable? It looks fine as a sig item.

 

I'd also suggest that you read the Logo Usage guidelines. Link is at the bottom of every page of Geocaching.com

 

The Groundspeak Geocaching Logo may be used only on non-commercial items. These items may include, but are not limited to shirts, hats, coins, logbooks, stickers and cache containers. Additionally, the Groundspeak Geocaching logo may not be modified in any way. If the lifetime use of the design is less than 25 units, you may consider permission automatically granted. These items may not, under any circumstance, be sold. For larger numbers of items, please request permission by sending an email to logo@Groundspeak.com.

 

Well I sure meet the use standards, thanks for putting them out there anyway.

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Thanks for all the great comments and suggestions and "constructive criticisms". I think I will give it a try with a few and see what happens, if I don't give it a shot, will never know if it works, and I don't expect them all to work anyway.

 

Thanks everyone!!

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Is it OK to leave a custom trackable that you have made? I see others have made wooden coins and some other things, I happen to be able to make customized cards for myself and made these:

 

Front

 

DSCF1496-1.jpg

 

Back..

DSCF1495-1.jpg

 

Are these kinds of things OK or are these frowned on?? I also have some other things to leave along with these.. But want to check before I insult someone. OH and I know I spelled Geocaching wrong..hey its a first attempt.. :D

This is a fascinating thread, and a fascinating original post, and I was not planning on responding, until I noticed the trick involved. Pretty tricky, I must say!

 

You see, initially, before I noticed what I did ultimately notice -- which changed the whole picture -- I was not gonna bother to respond to this thread, because all I could have said was really what everyone else so far has largely said, which is as follows:

  • that your tracking number would be meaningless on the Geocaching.com website, and on any of the trackables tracking systems therein, such as those for travel bugs or geocoins.
  • that you would therefore be stuck with needing to kinda reinvent the wheel, that is, you would be faced with the task of purchasing a website, and web hosting, and then writing server-side code to set up a tracking system on your new website to allow finders to enter the tracking information.
  • and more along the same track of thinking

And so, I was planning on skipping any response to this thread.

 

And then... then, about an hour ago, I took a second and closer look at your first post, because something had been bothering me about it, and particularly about the photos of your trackable. And then I noticed it and I figured it all out! Tricky!

 

When I look closely at the second image, that is, the one showing the back of the trackable card, I realize that it steers the reader/finder NOT to geocaching.com, but rather to your own website at geochaching.com (notice the subtle change in spelling, folks?), and it turns out that you (or someone lose to you) already own the domain name, and you already own webhosting for the site, and you already have a rudimentary skeletal advertising page in place at the geochaching.com website. And, the page already bears ads for GPS-related items and geocaching-related items. All that remains for you to do is to add the bit of server-side code to allow site visitors to enter the tracking number.

 

So, your idea, as I see it, is rather ingenious, as you will get people to find your "trackables", and then they will be invited to visit your already-established advertising website at www.geochaching.com, where they will be invited to enter their trackable number, but at the same time, they will be exposed to your many dozens of GPS-related and geocaching-related ads, and, as an examination of the website links on your geochaching.com website already makes clear, you will earn pay-per-click revenue on each click-through! Ingenious, and tricky, and downright devious, but I suspect that what you are trying to do is in violation of Groundspeak rules! So, you may need a bit of luck to get this one to fly!

 

.

Edited by Vinny & Sue Team
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Something tells me that is a typo. Maybe not.

 

When I go to that site it does not pull GPS/Geocaching Specific ads, it appears to pull anything that has the word "geo" in it.

 

I see one for a manufacturer of car racks for Geos. And one for something called Casas Geo En Mexico - whatever that is.

 

And I have no where on it to enter a tracking number.

Edited by Old Chorizo
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Actually, that is a registered domain name.

 

But...

 

Creation Date: 11/22/02

Expiration Date: 11/22/09

 

My guess is that it is just a typo too.

 

Unless some occult hand reached down and went back in time to register that in 2002 for the original poster, who just registered on the site a couple of weeks ago.

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...

Are these kinds of things OK or are these frowned on?? I also have some other things to leave along with these.. But want to check before I insult someone. OH and I know I spelled Geocaching wrong..hey its a first attempt.. :D

They are ok. You just need to make it easy for people to help you track them. The easier you make it the more folks helping you will get. For example I will not create yet another online account to help someone track a bug. Having to create an account for every thing (like registering a 5.00 product) has become a pet peeve of mine. Emailing you a code through your GC.com account, I can handle that.

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When I look closely at the second image, that is, the one showing the back of the trackable card, I realize that it steers the reader/finder NOT to geocaching.com, but rather to your own website at geochaching.com ...blah, blah, blah...

 

Something tells me that is a typo. Maybe not.

 

Maybe the last sentence of the original post?

 

OH and I know I spelled Geocaching wrong..hey its a first attempt.. :D

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When I look closely at the second image, that is, the one showing the back of the trackable card, I realize that it steers the reader/finder NOT to geocaching.com, but rather to your own website at geochaching.com ...blah, blah, blah...

 

Something tells me that is a typo. Maybe not.

 

Maybe the last sentence of the original post?

 

OH and I know I spelled Geocaching wrong..hey its a first attempt.. :D

 

Haha - would you look at that! I obviously didn't. :mad:

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Are these kinds of things OK or are these frowned on?? I also have some other things to leave along with these.. But want to check before I insult someone. OH and I know I spelled Geocaching wrong..hey its a first attempt..

 

Geez guys! CWagoner even said that it was a typo... if you read the entirety of the first post you would have seen that! Why do you have to jump to conclusions??? It is almost like someone has to have a thick skin before they post on here...

 

Relax!!!!!

 

CWagoner... please just ignore those the seem to have to create drama to get their thrills. I hope that between all that nonsense you did answers to your question. Please feel free to continue to ask questions and to take part in the conversations. Not all of us will do what a few do. Although it is those few that make it an uncomfortable, unfriendly and not welcoming place!!!!! There are lots of people that would be more than happy to help out without attacking you!

Edited by brendah
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Are these kinds of things OK or are these frowned on?? I also have some other things to leave along with these.. But want to check before I insult someone. OH and I know I spelled Geocaching wrong..hey its a first attempt..

 

Geez guys! CWagoner even said that it was a typo... if you read the entirety of the first post you would have seen that! Why do you have to jump to conclusions??? It is almost like someone has to have a thick skin before they post on here...

 

Relax!!!!!

 

CWagoner... please just ignore those the seem to have to create drama to get their thrills. I hope that between all that nonsense you did answers to your question. Please feel free to continue to ask questions and to take part in the conversations. Not all of us will do what a few do. Although it is those few that make it an uncomfortable, unfriendly and not welcoming place!!!!! There are lots of people that would be more than happy to help out without attacking you!

 

Thank you, really thank you. :mad: My son and I just came back from finding another nearby our home. I crossed out the miss-spelled word and wrote the correct spelling in sharpie.. :D

 

Thanks for all the help from everyone..

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Looks fun! To make the tracking/emailing a bit more user-friendly, you might want to consider using just a different "secret code word" instead of CWFL000X for a tracking number. Maybe "yellow" or "rain" or something. You won't have that many out in the wild, and so it shouldn't be a big deal for you to correlate "yellow" with your first card, etc. But that way, it's easy for people to remember, so they'll type it correctly in an email, and it won't be as likely to be confused with a GC.com tracking number. Best of luck!

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<You log them on their own website>

 

That is the reason I never picked up those Path-Tags when they first came out. I see them in caches every now and then...but I never pick them up like TB's.

 

I don't know if it changed but...that is the same reason I never go to Waymaking (?)...I just want to enter everything on one site and have my totals and history on one site.

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Vinny was just pulling your leg. :D You might want to look up some of his previous posts for a point of reference.

Actually, in this case, I was largely serious. Taken as a whole, I found his post and his photos to be rather suspicious, and perhaps it was just the cranky curmudgeon in me speaking, but something just did not seem quite right. In light of the research done by mtn-man, I now believe that the OPs intent was indeed innocent.

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Vinny was just pulling your leg. :D You might want to look up some of his previous posts for a point of reference.

Actually, in this case, I was largely serious. Taken as a whole, I found his post and his photos to be rather suspicious, and perhaps it was just the cranky curmudgeon in me speaking, but something just did not seem quite right. In light of the research done by mtn-man, I now believe that the OPs intent was indeed innocent.

And... I only wish now that I had not notified Homeland Security, the FBI and CIA that I strongly suspected that the OP was a dire and imminent threat to national security and also a dire and imminent threat to the purity of the bodily fluids of all God-fearing Americans. ...oh, well...!

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And... I only wish now that I had not notified Homeland Security, the FBI and CIA that I strongly suspected that the OP was a dire and imminent threat to national security and also a dire and imminent threat to the purity of the bodily fluids of all God-fearing Americans. ...oh, well...!

Oh dear, I wish you hadn't done that. Who do you think they're likely to believe is a dire and imminent threat to society? We'll miss you, Vinny.

Edited by Chrysalides
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And... I only wish now that I had not notified Homeland Security, the FBI and CIA that I strongly suspected that the OP was a dire and imminent threat to national security and also a dire and imminent threat to the purity of the bodily fluids of all God-fearing Americans. ...oh, well...!

Oh dear, I wish you hadn't done that. Who do you think they're likely to believe is a dire and imminent threat to society? We'll miss you, Vinny.

Not a problem. I am in regular contact with these agencies on a weekly basis. You see, I regularly scan all the sections of this forum searching for posters who evince signs of being involved in un-American activities (i.e., logging fake finds, logging event caches, stealing geocoins, stealing TBs, faking mileage on TBs by logging them into distant caches that the cacher has never found, disagreeing with my decrees or posts, etc.) that pose a dire and imminent threat to national security and/or a dire and imminent threat to the purity of the bodily fluids of Americans. And then, on a weekly basis, I report these un-American cachers to each of the agencies listed above as a possible threat to national security.

 

Before you are tempted to judge my actions harshly, I ask you to remember the words of the famed and highly-decorated Gen Jack D. Ripper of the US Air Force:

I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion, and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.

 

In this day and age, a man cannot be too vigilant. Enuf said, for a word to the wise is sufficient.

 

 

.

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Has anybody else, knowing da Vinnster's shenanigans, ever imagined that his caches like the PUC#9 - Hot Glowing Tribulations mystery, despite all the fluff & brass bands might in the end wind up being nothing but a semi-opaque film can with a tiny red LED inside, floating in his septic system's grease trap, or somesuch?

 

Or moreso, veracity-wise, has Vinny?

<_<

~*

You are hardly alone in speculating about this, and so, welcome to the club! You see, I am regularly contacted by curious geocachers from all across the world who ask me if rumors are true; that is, the rumors the effect that the vast majority of my Psycho Urban Caches, and also two (one since archived) of my Psycho Backcountry Caches, are nothing more than tall tale caches. The most common belief seems to be that each of these Psycho caches is really a lame urban micro with an ALR demanding that the finder weave an elaborate tale of their arduous retrieval of the cache in order to be allowed to claim an online find.

 

Frankly, if these rumors (that is, about them being tall tale caches) were true, they would go a long way toward explaining a lot of the extant mysteries surrounding many of my more difficult Psycho caches!

 

.

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You are hardly alone in speculating about this, and so, welcome to the club! You see, I am regularly contacted by curious geocachers from all across the world who ask me if rumors are true; that is, the rumors the effect that the vast majority of my Psycho Urban Caches, and also two (one since archived) of my Psycho Backcountry Caches, are nothing more than tall tale caches. The most common belief seems to be that each of these Psycho caches is really a lame urban micro with an ALR demanding that the finder weave an elaborate tale of their arduous retrieval of the cache in order to be allowed to claim an online find.

 

Frankly, if these rumors (that is, about them being tall tale caches) were true, they would go a long way toward explaining a lot of the extant mysteries surrounding many of my more difficult Psycho caches!

 

.

 

I guess that follows a logic in some parallel universe(s).....just none I've visited.

 

What I's really hoping for was getting something by way of an explanation for the rumored loss of several cache-seekers in your area -- those who've apparently vanished from the face of this magnificent blue marble, never to be seen or heard from again. That a good many who, as we've all seen reported here many times over, coincidentally "haven't logged in here in 'X' years", & "have abandoned / haven't maintained their caches", causing (as also witnessed) much angst on these fora. A connection's been made wherein a good many were known to be departing their homes to attempt some of your PUC's -- then nothing! It's like some pliant hand reached brown from a dove, & swoped 'em up like prawns off some mastical cheeseboard. They say (the rumors, not the victi ...errr...'vanishees') that the construction plans for your home have been surreptiously obtained, and the basement is far, far too large for what's above it.

 

But ok - I'll back off, since you're holding the club door open & beckonin' me inside. Like Groucho, I wouldn't wanta be a part of any outfit that would have me as a member! Besides, rubber suits just don't flatter me. Nor body bags.

 

Like someone said before - we're gonna miss ya, Vin-man!

I'll visit when I can. Promise!

 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.....

BOY!, them sure are some neat-lookin' cards he made up there, huh?

 

~*

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Is it OK to leave a custom trackable that you have made? I see others have made wooden coins and some other things, I happen to be able to make customized cards for myself and made these:

 

I'm glad you asked this question because I was thinking of doing something similar using a photo of my dog and asking for it to be taken to geocaches in dog-friendly places .... ask people to send me an email + photo of their dog .... I would list on my website. Now I'm thinking I'll just use a regular TB.

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I think it would be ok to use custom cards, because i custom made 3 geocoins and i sent 1 out into the world of cache's but know, it's still sitting at one cache for over a month. :) i'm not happy about that, cause i really like that spacific coin.

Edited by S.S.F.P.
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Thanks for all the great comments and suggestions and "constructive criticisms". I think I will give it a try with a few and see what happens, if I don't give it a shot, will never know if it works, and I don't expect them all to work anyway.

 

Thanks everyone!!

Looks great. Many people have made different types of trackables with their own tracking system. You will find that many of them do not get logged, but the ones that do will be a real pleasure. Check out sigitem.com, and you'll see many others that follow a similar path. Another option you might consider later, or for some of your cards is see if Groundspeak will approve your design for official tracking with their numbers(which can be purchased in batches from them for $1.50/number). Looks like a fun find! I'll keep my eyes open for them.

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Vinny was just pulling your leg. :) You might want to look up some of his previous posts for a point of reference.

Actually, in this case, I was largely serious. Taken as a whole, I found his post and his photos to be rather suspicious, and perhaps it was just the cranky curmudgeon in me speaking, but something just did not seem quite right. In light of the research done by mtn-man, I now believe that the OPs intent was indeed innocent.

I've accidentally gone to that site before by misspelling the name...which is why the owners of the site created it. Try misspelling lots of popular sites and you will find similar add sites. Smart move on the part of the owners.

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